America’s Original Sin – Free Methodist Conversations

DECLARATION “DIGNITAS INFINITA” ON HUMAN DIGNITY

April 10, 2024 By dwayman

Declaration of the Dicastery
for the Doctrine of the Faith
“Dignitas Infinita regarding human dignity”
04.08.2024

On the 8th of April, 2024, the Vatican presented to Christendom and to the world their five year study on Human Dignity. In this document, written in seven languages (Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish), the introduction explains:

“On 2 February 2024, a new and significantly modified version of this text was sent to the Members of the Dicastery ahead of the Ordinary Session (Feria IV) on 28 February 2024. The letter accompanying the draft included the following clarification: “This additional drafting was necessary to meet a specific request of the Holy Father: namely, he explicitly urged that more attention be given to the grave violations of human dignity in our time, particularly in light of the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti. With this, the Doctrinal Office took steps to reduce the initial part […] and to develop in greater detail what the Holy Father indicated.” The text of the current Declaration was finally approved during the above-mentioned Feria IV of 28 February 2024. Then, in the Audience granted to me and to Monsignor Armando Matteo, Secretary of the Doctrinal Section, on 25 March 2024, the Holy Father approved this Declaration and ordered its publication.

The five-year course of the text’s preparation helps us to understand that the document before us reflects the gravity and centrality of the theme of dignity in Christian thought.

RACE

RACIAL CAPITALISM VS. DIVINE ECONOMY: HOW CHRISTIANITY OFFERS A BETTER ANTIRACISM

March 25, 2024 By dwayman

Providing a profoundly Christian understanding of anti-racism, Dr. Jonathan Tran, Associate Professor of Theology at Baylor University, gave the Seventh Annual Lecture sponsored by Christian Unity at Greenville University

Greenville University reporter Dave Bell writes:

As an Asian-American, Jonathan Tran knows the reality of discrimination in America.

“I came to America at the end of three wars between America and Asian countries – Japan, Korea, and Vietnam,” said Tran, who now serves as an Associate Professor of Theology at Baylor University. “People in America viewed me as perilous … not just a foreigner, but a problematic one. As a result, racism was a daily reality in my life.”…

As a person of Vietnamese descent, Tran said he was impacted by racism, but simultaneously ignored by anti-racism efforts that focused only on righting the wrongs experienced by African-Americans.

“I learned that I didn’t count,” he said. “My experiences didn’t seem to matter. In short, I was marginalized by racism, and marginalized again by anti-racism efforts. I didn’t count in efforts to expand diversity.”

That reality, he said, led him to write his book about racism from the perspective of an Asian-American.

“I tried to convert the pain I experienced into power,” he said. “I wanted to discover more about American racism from the perspective of those on the margins.”

As he researched,

SERMONS

HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS?

March 18, 2024 By dwayman

HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS? Luke 22:1-6, 22:47-53

Edward Song
Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara Sunday, 17 March 2024

“Judas has been called a thief, a money lover, a devil from the beginning. His betrayal has been called the act of a greedy man, a disappointed man, a man chosen for an ugly task, a man trying to force Jesus to act by precipitating a crisis. Here is one who was chosen after a night of prayer to be in the inner circle of Jesus. He was taught and then sent to minister with apostolic authority. He enjoyed the same success as the others on those missions to preach, to heal, and to cast out demons. He was in every sense of the word an apostle. What happened?” -Fred Craddock

“Despair has been called the unforgivable sin—not presumably because God refuses to forgive it but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven.” -Frederick Buechner

INTRODUCTION

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

It is a very great privilege to be able to share a word with you all today…but if I’m being honest, preparing this sermon has been stressful. For today’s readings are unusually challenging. We are looking at the two sections in Luke 22 that focus on Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.

EVANGELICALISM’S FATAL FLAW

February 2, 2024 By dwayman

The leading Free Methodist author, Rev. Dr. Howard Snyder, provides an insightful historical and theological study of why the Evangelical church has lost its way. Though most Free Methodists identify as Wesleyan rather than Evangelical due to the reasons noted in this study, it is important to understand what has and is happening within a large branch of American Christianity.

Evangelicalism’s Fatal Flaw Howard A. Snyder

Evangelicalism in the U.S. suffers from a fatal flaw.

What in the world is “evangelicalism”? The term is contested and variously defined. In the United States however it has come to mean doctrinally conservative Protestants, especially white Protestants, who are also very conservative politically. That perception has taken hold in the media and is backed by evangelicals’ voting record in the past several Presidential elections, going back to Ronald Reagan.

What is evangelicalism really though, theologically speaking? British Baptist historian David Bebbington formulated a definition in the 1980s that is now widely accepted. According to Bebbington, evangelicals are defined by four marks: biblicism (a high view of biblical authority); crucicentrism (central focus on Christ’s atonement); conversionism (conversion by faith in Jesus Christ is essential); and activism (the Christian duty to evangelize).

I have never liked this definition. It doesn’t really click with my own experience growing up in the Free Methodist Church. I always felt something was missing, especially for those of us in the Wesleyan and holiness tradition.

I used to think Bebbington’s definition wasn’t quite right.

CHURCH AND STATE

PUTIN AND THE CHURCH

August 10, 2023 By dwayman

The Christianity of President Putin is stated by this researcher as having a union of church and state. The comparison is made between the leadership of Hitler and Putin as both seeing themselves as having the Divine right to conquer others. In Putin’s case it is to fulfill the destiny of Russia as the 3rd Jerusalem.

Rob Schwarzwalder writes:

“This mystical belief has caused Putin to believe he, himself, is imbued with the spirit of his nation. Shortly before Lent, one of his business associates asked Putin about asking forgiveness before a priest. Putin responded, “‘I am the President of Russia. Why should I ask for forgiveness?’”

When a leader believes he is the personification of the state itself, specially chosen by God to lead his country to conquest and triumph, trouble looms — as the people of Ukraine have learned with great pain. The German philosopher G.F. Hegel claimed that the state — a centralized government with power over every institution and person within the borders it controls — “is the march of God on earth.” This is precisely the approach taken by the Nazis concerning Adolf Hitler. The so-called “Fuhrer (leader) principle” was made clear by one of Hitler’s lapdog apologists, Rudolf Hess: “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. Whatever he does is successful. Clearly the Führer has divine blessing.” This is why negotiating with Putin has proven so difficult.

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

FULLER’S BIBLICAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN MINISTRY

June 13, 2023 By dwayman

David M. Scholer

As an historically more reformed seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary has supported the equal calling of Women in Ministry since 1966. In this positional statement Professor David. M. Scholer provides an extensive biblical study on this support. Click here for the entire article.

Women in Ministry

In the following article, we present Fuller Seminary’s position on women in ministry, as described and biblically supported by the late Professor of New Testament David M. Scholer.

An Introduction

Women have contributed much to the ministry of the Church throughout its history. However, their role in this area has never been free from controversy. Today, most church bodies are discussing the place of women in their ministries. Crucial to these discussions for many of us are the matters of faithful biblical interpretation…

The Basis in Creation

First, man (‘adam), a generic term meaning the “human person,” is created in God’s very own image (Genesis 1:26–27; 5:1–2). This creation in God’s image includes the identification of persons as male and female. This mutuality of women and men carries no suggestion of male headship or female submission.

Second, this mutuality is confirmed by the fact that both the man and the woman together, without distinction, are charged with responsibility for all of God’s creation (Genesis 1:26, 28). This equal partnership between man and woman is also present in the retelling of the creation story in Genesis 2.

FULL IMPLICATIONS OF BEING PRO-LIFE

May 31, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. David Wisener, Redeemer Free Methodist Church

I’m concerned pro-life Christians aren’t being ethically comprehensive. We need to reflect a coherent ethic that does justice to the value of all human life. We need to both recognize how wide- ranging the issues are surrounding the protection of life and be more precise with how we define the stances we choose to take.

A prime example for more precision is The Book of Discipline’s statement regarding abortion: “The intentional abortion of a person’s life, from conception on, must be judged to be a violation of God’s command, ‘You shall not commit murder,’ except when extreme circumstances require the termination of a pregnancy to save the life of the pregnant woman.”

The statement implicitly assumes all instances of terminating a human embryo occur within a woman’s body, but that is not the case. What of embryos that are created as part of invitro fertilization? In this process, several are created and frozen until a couple decides what they want to do with them: one or more are selected to be implanted to carry to term, but what about the others? The only options available are for the couple to either donate them to other couples; donate them for scientific use; dispose of them; or keep them frozen.

Yet, if we are going to use the same ethical logic from The Book of Discipline stated above, unless a couple donates their remaining embryos to other couples,

SERMONS

A CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS

May 26, 2023 By dwayman

Rev. Dr. Keith Cowart

Beyond These Walls Conference (ILI)

The Woodlands: Houston, Texas

April 2023

Dr. Keith Coward is a candidate for bishop. To see his introduction click here. To hear his interview click here.

A Church Without Walls video click here.

Speaking of Jews and Gentiles, the Apostle Paul declares in Ephesians 2:14:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…

When I was 6 years old my parents made a decision that would shape my life in ways I never could have imagined. They decided to send me to the newly integrated public school instead of the brand new private school that most of my friends would be attending. As a result, I was one of the first in our county to attend twelve years in a fully integrated school. Most of my new friends were black. We went to class together. We were in the same clubs. We played sports together. That’s me circled in red – the kid with the great hair. (The Lord gives and the Lord takes away!) Now, there were some interesting policies in our school,

SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

May 23, 2023 By dwayman

“A Surgeon General’s Advisory is a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.”

More research is needed to fully understand the impact of social media; however, the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents. We must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development.

The influence of social media on youth mental health is shaped by many complex factors, including, but not limited to, the amount of time children and adolescents spend on platforms, the type of content they consume or are otherwise exposed to, the activities and interactions social media affords, and the degree to which it disrupts activities that are essential for health like sleep and physical activity.6 Importantly, different children and adolescents are affected by social media in different ways,

Contact Me

About

Free Methodist Conversations

DECLARATION “DIGNITAS INFINITA” ON HUMAN DIGNITY

RACIAL CAPITALISM VS. DIVINE ECONOMY: HOW CHRISTIANITY OFFERS A BETTER ANTIRACISM

HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS?

EVANGELICALISM’S FATAL FLAW

PUTIN AND THE CHURCH

FULLER’S BIBLICAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN MINISTRY

FULL IMPLICATIONS OF BEING PRO-LIFE

A CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS

MENU

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Conversations